Pennsylvania Senate must show some adult' leadership in liquor debate

With a party-line vote, Republican Gov. Tom Corbett and his allies in the state House of Representatives successfully pulled off a trick that eluded two of his Republican predecessors: passing a bill that would finally bring down the curtain on Pennsylvania’s Prohibition-era system of selling wine and spirits.

The bill now goes to the state Senate, where two senior Republicans — Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, and Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson — favor modernizing the existing system over privatizing it.

In legislative speak, that’s code for making the Byzantine Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board operate more like a business — a purpose it was neither designed nor intended to serve.

It’s never been a secret that the privatization push would run into trouble in the Senate. But late last week, a southeastern lawmaker’s remarks to a business group underlined the challenge Corbett faces in the 50-member chamber.

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If he were still serving in the House, Senate Law and Justice Committee Chairman Chuck McIlhinney, R-Bucks, said he would have voted against the privatization bill, The Intelligencer of Doylestown reported in Sunday’s editions.

This is important news for two reasons.

It’s never been a secret that the privatization push would run into trouble in the Senate.

First, McIlhinney is an adherent of the “modernization” school and is sponsoring legislation that would allow beer distributors to purchase licenses to sell wine and spirits.

Second, and more importantly, McIlhinney’s committee has oversight of alcohol issues. That means he could trap the privatization bill in his committee and refuse to allow it to come to a vote until he gets a product he likes.

The House bill is far from perfect. It sets up an uneven playing field between beer distributors and grocery stores. Left with a system at least as onerous as the one it seeks to replace, consumers would be the ultimate losers in that battle of special interests.

So it’s up to majority Republicans in the Senate to step up and play a leadership role by crafting a bill resulting in a privatized system that balances both consumer choice and the state’s legitimate enforcement role.

Separated by a 27-23 margin, that also means GOP leaders will have to seek the support of Democrats who are squarely in the corner of the union that represents about 3,000 state store employees.

Language in the House bill providing tax credits to private owners and tuition assistance for displaced state store workers should be enough to sweeten the pot for Democrats who are obligated to put the broader interests of the taxpayers ahead of still another vested special interest.

The Senate has long prided itself for being the “adult” at the fractious family dinner table that is Pennsylvania government. Now’s the time for it to prove that’s true by sending Gov. Corbett a bill that gets Pennsylvania out of the booze business once and for all.